


Choice

by DarkValkyrie



Category: Crime Story, Original Work
Genre: Character Death, Crime Scenes, Death, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21796708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkValkyrie/pseuds/DarkValkyrie
Summary: A different choice and the same ending every time. The only thing that remains are memories of that day.But how, when the detective just got the case. How can he remember the future he hasn't lived yet?





	1. The start of the road

Living in a big city could be chaotic sometimes, especially in the capital city. The city never slept, people were out on the streets all the time, whenever you went out it felt like it was rush hour. Thano’s job required him to work crazy hours. He was in a police department that was understaffed. All of the police departments were understaffed considering that twelve million people lived in the city. With so many people, the time people committing the crimes didn’t consider that the detectives and police officers had to sleep or rest occasionally. 

Thano once had a dream that all the crimes in the city were committed between nine AM and four PM and that he was home at five PM having a normal evening just watching TV and drinking a beer. He liked that dream, it was a shame it wasn't true.

Today at eleven PM Thano’s mobile phone rang and his chief told him to be at a crime scene downtown. It was a double homicide. A double homicide was could be a premeditated murder, or a robbery gone wrong he will first have to gather evidence and do the interviews with the family members and friends to see if they had any enemies. The whole process was in his head like a cooking recipe.

“Ahhhh…” Thano sighted ‘ _When did this become routine to me?_ ’ He thought. And it really did, solving crimes had become a daily routine to him. With each case, he started to care about the dead people less and less and just did his job, just solved the crime. Thano tried to remember when this started to happen, but he couldn’t. After 20 years as a detective, it was bound to happen one day, people get used to all kinds of things, so he probably just got used to seeing dead people.

Thano got up out of bed, got dressed, took his car keys and left for the crime scene.


	2. The right turn

Thano was driving towards the crime scene and stopped at an intersection. He was sitting in his car at the intersection waiting for the light to turn green. He needed to get to the crime scene as fast as he could because he saw rain clouds gathering in the sky and rain was never good for evidence. He hoped that the people at the crime scene saw what he saw and put up a tent over the crime scene so that the rain doesn’t wash away the evidence. Thano thought which way was the fastest to the crime scene at this time of night.

‘ _If I go left towards the main street, I'll get stuck in a traffic jam. I should go right and through the back streets, that should take a few minutes more but there would be no traffic. If I go straight through the tunnel, there is a risk that I’ll be stuck because of a car accident. The tunnel has only two lanes and there’s always a car accident there. I should go right._ ’ The light turned green and Thano turned right at the traffic light.

Driving through the backstreets cost him a lot more time than Thano anticipated because there were a lot of traffic lights at the intersections. When he arrived at the crime scene, the coroner had already processed the bodies and the forensics team had already processed the crime scene.

“You’re late Thano.” The coroner said.

“I know. I’m sorry. I took the back streets thinking I’ll get here faster.” Thano said.

“It’s the middle of the night, you could have just taken the main streets.” The coroner said.

“What did I miss?” Thano asked.

“This was definitely a premeditated murder. A man Victor Zazni and a woman Mellany Bruke were both shot in the head from the back. It wasn’t a murder, it was an execution. There are no signs of a robbery, they had all their money and jewelry on them. But I’ll know more after the autopsy.” The coroner said.

“You sure you didn’t miss anything?” Thano asked.

“I don’t know. I’m not a detective. Maybe if you were here on time you would know.” The coroner said with anger in his voice and walked away saying. “You’ll get my report tomorrow.” 

It was never a good thing to get on the coroner's bad side so Thano went over to the forensic team who were packing their stuff. “Hi, guys! What did I miss?”

One of the forensic guys looked at Thano and said “A lot, because you were late. You’ll get our report tomorrow.” 

‘ _How did I get on their bad side?_ ’ Thano thought. The chief will give him hell about this tomorrow, but since he had nothing to go on tonight, he decided to go home and sleep. He’ll continue working the case tomorrow when he gets the reports.

Thano sat in his car and started to drive home.

In the morning, Thano waited for the coroners and forensic report and while he waited, he did background checks on his victims. He started with the woman, Mellany Bruke, she had no prior arrests, no parking tickets and worked as a secretary for a construction company. Clean as a whistle. There was no apparent reason why anybody would want to hurt or kill her.

The coroner's report arrived at his desk, he opened it and started to read it out loud to himself. “Cause of death is both victims shot to the back of the head… The male victim has a wedding ring female doesn’t… Now that's interesting. Nothing removed from the bodies… Jada, jada, jada… Noting that helps me… Shooter approximate height five feet ten inches? That sounds like a man or a tall woman. If I had to guess I’d say it’s a man.” Thano didn’t expect to get any clues from the coroner's report, but these two were a big one.

If these two were lovers, it made sense that a jealous husband, fiancé or a boyfriend killed them. When an affair is happening the wife usually just asks for a divorce, it can get ugly, but the women in a relationship rarely kill their partners or ex-partners. Men, on the other hand, behaved opposite, they were much more prone to violence and more prone to killing their partner and lover than asking for a divorce. So Thano decided to pay a visit to Mellany Brukes address, and talk to her boyfriend or the man she was living with.

The apartment was an hour's drive from the police station, which meant an hour's drive from the crime scene. ‘ _Maybe one of the traffic cameras got the killer on tape. I should check them when I get back._ ’ If it were a love affair, it would be logical for the lovers to be as far away, from where they lived, so there would be no chance that their partners would see them. Thano arrived at the apartment building and went up to the apartment of Mellany Brukes. He knocked and waited for somebody to open the door. To his surprise, a woman opened the door and asked him. “Who are you? What do you want?” Her eyes looked like she was crying all night.

“Hi miss. I’m Thano.” He took out his wallet and showed her his badge. “I have a few questions I’d like to ask you if you don't mind. Can I come in?” Thano asked.

“Yes.” The woman said silently, opened the door to let him in and closed them behind him. “Sit anywhere you like. Do you want coffee or something else to drink?” She asked.

“No, I’m ok. I just want to ask a few questions and then I’ll be out of your hair. Ok?” Thano said as he sat on the armchair in the living room.

The woman sat on the couch “Yeah… What do you want to know?”

“What's your name?” Thano asked.

“Charlet Massing, why?” Charlet said.

“Well Charlet, yesterday evening we found Mellany Bruke, who lives in this apartment, dead.” Thano said.

“What?! No! No no no no no!” Charlet started to yell and cry at the same time. “No! Mellany cannot be dead! She cannot! I spoke to her yesterday morning. No, you must have the wrong Mellany!” Tears were flowing down Charlet’s face, she was wiping them off with her hand as she picked up her mobile phone and dialed Mellany’s phone number. A phone started to ring in Thano‘ pocket. He took out a plastic evidence bag with a mobile phone inside it. The mobile phone was ringing and it stopped as soon as Charlet stopped the call. 

“Noooo! My Mellany! Noooo!” Charlet started to scream and weep. Thano comforted her trying to calm her down so he can get some answers. He wasn’t sour what the relationship between Charlet and Mellany was but he could see that they were not just roommates.

Charlet finally calmed down and Thano continued to ask her about her relationship with Mellany. Charlet and Mellany were in a relationship for three years. But for the past months, Mellany was acting strange. She was not gay, like Charlet, she was bisexual. Charlet had her doubts that Mellany started seeing a man because she sometimes came home smelling like men's cologne. Two days ago, they had a really awful fight and Mellany told her that she was seeing a man, but that seeing a man didn’t mean she didn’t love Charlet.

“I hate to ask you this but I have to. Do you know if anyone wanted to hurt Mellany?” Thano asked.

“No, she was a good person. Everybody liked her. Even at her job, she was friends with everybody.” Charlet sad.

“I was so hurt when she told me she was cheating on me that I threw her out and told her I hated her.” Charlet sad. “The last words to the person I loved the most were I hate you.”

“She knew you didn’t mean it, everybody knows that in the heat of the moment we say things we don't mean. Don’t worry, she knew you love her.” Thano said the old comfort line he already told hundreds of people before Charlet. It never failed him, the most important thing was that it made people feel better and it gave him the excuse he needed to go and find the real killer.

“Here is my number. If you remember, anything about what Mellany said about the man she was seeing or something strange she did call me. I have to go now, you take care.” Thano said. They said goodbye and Thano headed back to the police station. 

‘ _So no jealous fiancé or a boyfriend for Mellany Bruke and no one wanted to hurt her. Maybe she wasn't the target. However, she was having an affair with the man Victor Zazni who had a wedding ring._ _I should at least go speak to his wife, maybe he had enemies._ ' Thano was thinking as he entered the police station. On his desk was the forensic report. It was already late but he decided to read it and go home after that. He’ll speak to the man’s wife tomorrow.

As he picked up the forensic report, he felt a piercing pain in his chest. He couldn’t breathe, his vision started to blur and the pain in his chest got even stronger. Thano fell down on the floor and the last thing he saw was his colleagues rushing towards him with concerned looks on their faces.


	3. The left turn

Thano was driving towards the crime scene and stopped at an intersection. He was sitting in his car at the intersection waiting for the light to turn green. He needed to get to the crime scene as fast as he could because he saw rain clouds gathering in the sky and rain was never good for evidence. He hoped that the people at the crime scene saw what he saw and put up a tent over the crime scene so that the rain doesn’t wash away the evidence. Thano thought which way was the fastest to the crime scene at this time of night.

‘ _If I go left towards the main street and over the bridge, I'll be there in a few minutes. If I go right and through the back streets, that should take me longer because of all the traffic lights. If I go straight through the tunnel, there is a risk that I’ll be stuck because of a car accident. The tunnel has only two lanes and there’s always a car accident there. I should go left._ ’ The light turned green and Thano turned left at the traffic light.

Driving on the main street and the bridge was a good choice. It was late enough that there was not a lot of traffic. Thano arrived at the crime scene just as the coroner was examining the bodies.

“Hi. What do we have?” Thano asked the coroner.

“Oh, you're here. We have two dead. A man Victor Zazni and a woman Mellany Bruke shot in the head from behind and...” The coroner started to say but was interrupted by Thano.

“And it looks like they were executed. And nothing was taken from them so it’s not a robbery.” Thano said as if he was enchanted. “And the man has a wedding ring but the woman doesn’t.”

“How do you know that?” The coroner asked him confused.

“I don’t know...” Thano said also confused. ‘ _How do I know that? I feel like I have been here before. It’s like a deja vu but I remember this place. I was here before._ ’ Thano felt like something strange was happening to him. He went over to the forensic team to see if he remembered anything about what they said but as he walked over to them, the feeling was gone.

“Hi, guys! What do we have?” He asked the forensic team.

“A lot. There is a lot of blood and blood splatter but it’s probably from the victims. Here we have two sets of footprints.” The forensics guy took Thano to the footprints.

“That’s not unusual, we have two dead bodies.” Thano said.

“Yes, one of the footprints matches your male victim, but the other doesn’t. It’s a male shoe footprint as big as the male victim’s footprints. They both stepped in the puddle over there and made these footprints. We took pictures and we’ll be able to match the footprint to the type of shoe that made it.” The forensic guy said.

“That’s awesome.” Thano said. ‘ _But I already know the killer is probably a male because of the height in the coroner's report. But how do I know that when the coroner is still here._ ’

“If you find anything else leave it on my desk. I have to go.” Thano said. Something strange was happening and he didn’t like it. He knew things he shouldn’t possibly know. He sat in his car and headed to the police station. 

At the police station, he sat at his desk. He typed in the name of the female victim Mellany Bruke, into the computer and looked at her photo. Somehow, he knew that she was having an affair with the male victim, that she just broke up with her girlfriend and didn’t have anyone who wanted to hurt her. ‘ _How in the hell do I know that? I just got the case._ ’ Baffled, not knowing what to think about this whole situation, Thano decided to look at the traffic cameras around the crime screen. All of the traffic cameras didn’t have a good angle and didn’t catch the act of crime. There were too many people walking around, the killer could follow them dressed in one set of clothes, killed them, then changed clothes and the police would never know.

The cameras were no help at all, Thano would have to use old-fashioned police work on this one. It seemed that he already knew everything about Mellany Bruke. Maybe it was time to talk to the wife of Victor Zazni. Thano looked at the clock it was already one AM. It was too late to go knocking on people's doors so he decided to go home and go speak to the wife tomorrow.

In the morning, Thano first went to the police station to see if the forensics report was done. There was nothing on his desk so he decided to go speak to Victor Zazni’s wife. He typed in his name into the computer and there was a report about a previous assault charge. The report said that he attacked a man and started a bar fight. The charges were dropped at the end but an assault charge said a lot about a man. Maybe this wasn’t the only time he started a fight, just the only time he was caught. Maybe he had someone who wanted to hurt him. 

Thano took his things and headed to the address where Victor Zazni lived. He after an hour and a half he arrived at a house. He parked his car, knocked at the door and heard a few small dogs barking. A man opened the door.

“Can I help you?” The man asked. 

“Hi sir. I’m Thano.” He took out his wallet and showed him his badge. “I have a few questions I’d like to ask you if you don't mind. Can I come in?” Thano asked.

“Yes, of course. What is this about?” The man asked as he opened the door to let Thano into the house.

“Let’s go sit in the living room and I’ll explain.” Thano said looking around, especially at the shoes, to see what size they and model they were. Who knows, maybe they matched the crime scene.

“Can I get you anything to drink?” The man asked.

“No, I’m fine.” Thano replied. “What’s your name, sir?”

“I’m Lucas Zazni.” The man replied.

“Well Lucas, I’m here because yesterday evening we found Victor Zazni dead.” Thano said.

“Oh…” Lucas said with a calm voice.

Thano knew that people reacted differently to the news that their loved one was dead. Some cried, some fainted or fell into shock. Then there were the ones that hated their husbands, boyfriends or lovers and reacted with a smile and good riddance, but Lucas, Lucas didn’t fit in any of the normal grieving categories that Thano saw as a detective in his 20 years. The only category that Lucas fitted in was the _I did it category_.

“What happened to him?” Lucas asked still calm.

“He was shot in the back of his head, executed really, while walking with a woman he was having an affair with.” Thano said trying to get any kind of reaction from Lucas.

“Then that can't be Victor.” Lucas said.

“What do you mean by that?” Thano asked curiously.

“Victor and I were married for nine years, we love each other and he would never cheat on me. He told me he was on a business trip this week. I’ll call him and you’ll see that you have the wrong man.” Lucas picked up his mobile phone and dialed Victor’s phone number. A phone started to ring in Thano‘ pocket. He took out a plastic evidence bag with a mobile phone inside it. The mobile phone was ringing. It stopped as soon as Charlet stopped the call.

Lucas looked at the mobile phone with a cryptic look on his face, not saying anything.

“I think this means that your husband is dead.” Thano said.

“I would like to be alone now if you don’t mind detective.” Lucas said.

“No problem. Here is my number. If you remember anything about something strange your husband did call me.” Thano gave his card to Lucas as he was leaving the house. Lucas took the card and closed the door behind Thano not even saying goodbye.

Thano was now sure that Lucas killed Victor and Mellany Bruke. Three things gave him away. The first thing was that he used the past to describe the relationship with his husband, he said _we were married_ instead _we are married_. The second thing was his reaction to the mobile phone, when he killed his husband Victor and his lover Lucas probably wanted to take Victor’s mobile phone to make it look like he was on a business trip. But today’s mobile phones all look the same and he took the mobile phone Victor used to talk to his lover instead of his normal mobile phone. The last thing was the reaction to the news of Victor's death after he saw Victor’s mobile phone.

‘ _So I know who the killer is. I just need to prove it. Maybe the forensics team has something I could use._ ’ Thano thought as he walked to his car. He got in and headed to the police station.

On his desk, in the police station, was the forensic report. It was already late but he decided to read it and go home after that. He read the standard stuff, the blood matched the blood of the victims and the blood splatter was consistent with the shooting “Jada, jada, jada… I already know that. Nothing new.” Thano murmured to himself. “Oh! This is new! There was male DNA on the left cheek of Victor Zazni, probably from saliva. Both footprints from the crime scene were from a very expensive model of shoes that matched the ones I saw at Victor Zazni’s place.” 

‘ _That’s it. Lucas probably kissed his husband goodbye. That's how I'm going to get him. I just need his DNA. I just need a warrant._ ’ Thano thought and felt a piercing pain in his chest. He couldn’t breathe, his vision started to blur and the pain in his chest got even stronger. Thano fell down on the floor and the last thing he saw was his colleagues rushing towards him with concerned looks on their faces.


	4. The straight way

Thano was driving towards the crime scene and stopped at an intersection. He was sitting in his car at the intersection waiting for the light to turn green. He needed to get to the crime scene as fast as he could because he saw rain clouds gathering in the sky and rain was never good for evidence. He hoped that the people at the crime scene saw what he saw and put up a tent over the crime scene so that the rain doesn’t wash away the evidence. Thano thought which way was the fastest to the crime scene at this time of night.

‘ _If I go left towards the main street, I'll get stuck in a traffic jam. If I go right and through the back streets, that should take me longer because of all the traffic lights. The fastest way is if I go straight through the tunnel. At this time of night, it shouldn’t be crowded. I should go straight._ ’ The light turned green and Thano went straight at the traffic light.

Driving through the tunnel, he had an odd feeling that this situation was somehow familiar to him but he couldn’t pinpoint how or why. _‘Maybe I had a similar case at some point._ ’ He thought.

Thano arrived at the crime scene just as the coroner was examining the bodies.

“Hi. What do we have?” Thano asked the coroner and immediately stopped walking towards the bodies. ‘ _I was here before._ “Please tell me that these two are not Victor Zazni and Mellany Bruke.” He said to the coroner.

“Yes, they are. Do you know them?” The coroner asked.

“No. I mean I don’t know them but I know who they are. Did they die because somebody shot them in the head from behind?” Thano asked.

“Yeah… How do you know that? Are you all right? You’re starting to scare me Thano. ” The coroner said.

“Check the man's left cheek, swab it for DNA and get it to the lab as soon as possible. If you can, could you have the results on my desk in the morning? Please” Thano said.

“Why?” The coroner asked confused.

“Just do it. Please, I’ll owe you one.” Thano begged and walked towards the forensics team.

‘ _How did I know all that, the names and the way they were killed? How did I know about the man's cheek?’_ Thano had an odd feeling that something very wrong was going on.

“Hi, guys. Can I ask you something?” Thano asked the forensics team.

“Yeah, detective. What is it?” One of the forensics guys said.

“Can you do me a favor? The two sets of footprints you found, can you hurry it up and find the shoe models that match the footprints and have it at my desk in the morning? Please.” Thano said.

“I don’t know...” The forensics guy started to say but was interrupted.

“Please. It’s very important. I’ll owe you one.” Thano begged

“Ok. I’ll see what I can do.” The forensics guy said.

Thano sat in his car as the coroner and the forensics team were finishing their jobs. As soon as Thano saw the crime scene, he started to remember things that made no sense. He remembered the future. ‘ _How can I remember the future that didn’t happen? I just got here, I know who the victims are, how they died, that they had an affair, and that the male victim’s husband, Victor’s husband Lucas is the killer. I remember talking to him and I remember how I knew he was the killer. But how?_ ’ 

The DNA result from the cheek and the forensic report on the footprints will be done tomorrow so Thano decided to go home and try to sleep or at least figure out what the hell was going on. Why is he remembering the future? As he was driving home, he thought about the memories that he remembered. The odd thing about the memories he remembered was that all of them were just memories from tomorrow. 

Thano arrived home and went to bed. He lay on the bed thinking ‘ _If I only remember the events from tomorrow does that mean that I solve the case in one day. But, why do I remember two sets of memories of tomorrow then? This doesn’t make any sense. It’s as if I was talking to Mellany’s girlfriend and Victor's husband at the same time, but that’s not possible._ ’ Thano’ lay on the bed, struggling to understand how could he have two sets of memories of the future, but at one point, he fell asleep. 

Thano woke up feeling exhausted. He got dressed, got in his car and headed to the police station, grabbing a coffee on his way there. On his desk were two reports, one from the forensic and the other from the coroner. The forensics report matched the two sets of footprints to two very expensive model of shoes that matched the ones he saw at Victor Zazni’s place. The coroner's report had the DNA result from Victor Zazni’s cheek swab. Thano ran the DNA through the database and got a hit. The DNA belonged to Lucas Zazni. The DNA was on the record because Lucas Zazni also had an assault charge, the same assault charge from the bar fight as his husband. ‘ _I got you now!_ ’ Thano thought and immediately called the district attorney to get a warrant for Lucas Zazni’s arrest for premeditated murder.

Whit the evidence Thano had against Lucas the judge signed the warrant. Thano and two police officers headed to Lucas Zazni house, Thano knew he‘d be home because he remembered, and when they got there they knocked at the door. Lucas opened the door and said. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, you can. Lucas Zazni I am arresting you for the murder of Victor Zazni and Mellany Bruke. You have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, it can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have a lawyer present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you so desire.” Thano read him his Miranda rights while he took him to the police officer's car.

In the police station, Thano was greeted by applause and cheering. Everyone was amazed that he solved a case in one night. Colleagues shook his hand congratulating him and patting him on the back for a job well done. Even the chief was amazed and proud to have such a good detective on his force.

‘ _Who knows, maybe I’ll get a medal for solving this case._ ’ Thano thought. His colleagues, curious to find out how he solved the case so fast, surrounded him and started asking him questions. Thano didn’t tell them the truth, he just said that he had a gut feeling about this one and did it the old-fashioned way, the true detective way. 

They all laughed and at one point Thano felt a piercing pain in his chest. He couldn’t breathe, his vision started to blur and the pain in his chest got even stronger. Thano fell down on the floor and the last thing he saw was his colleagues, surrounding him, with concerned looks on their faces.


	5. The end of the road

Thano woke up at the pain in his chest was gone, but he wasn’t in the police station or the hospital. He was sitting on something completely black, surrounded by complete darkness.

“What the…” He started to say and stopped as he saw someone walking towards him.

The figure was walking slowly towards him, behind it there were several people that looked like Death’s slaves. As the figure got closer, it looked bigger and bigger. The figure was dressed in a black robe and stopped a few feet away from Thano.

“As we agreed. I have done. It’s your time now.” A voice echoed inside Thano’ mind. It was a strange and disturbing feeling.

“Agreed to what? My time for what?” Thano said.

The figure took a few steps and raised its head towards Thano’ head. The hand under the robe was made of bones and as it touched Thano’ forehead memories started flowing into his mind.

This wasn't the first time he was here talking to the figure dressed in black, talking to Death. He was here two times before and he made a deal with Death. He challenged Death to a game. If he wins, Death will let him solve his last case and in case he dies, Death will reset the events from the beginning of the case with his memories intact and after he solves the case he will die. If Death wins, he will serve Death, for as many years as Death wanted, as the people that were serving Death now. 

Death agreed and Thano chose the game and set the rules. Death let him because Death never lost a game. The rules were that neither Death nor Thano could change their shape or parts of their body and the game was Fruit Ninja on a Smartphone. Two Smartphones appeared and on each, one the game started. Thano had no problem slicing the fruit on the Smartphone screen but Death couldn't do anything, the Smartphone screen wouldn’t respond to the bony fingers of Death. Death lost and agreed to let him solve his last case.

With all the memories back, everything that happened to him finally made sense to Thano.

“So I was destined to die anyway from a heart attack?” Thano asked Death.

“Yes, it was your time.” Death answered.

“What now?” Thano asked.

“Come with me. You will see.” Death answered.

**Author's Note:**

> The inspiration for the story is the old myth about playing a game against Death, playing chess with Death.  
> I thought about how could somebody win a game against Death in modern times and it occurred to me that Smartphone screens wouldn't react to bony fingers of Death. I used that for inspiration for the story. I hope you like it :)
> 
> I didn't use any movies or series for inspiration, all I did is sit in front of my laptop and start to write, the story is my original work.  
> This is just the result of my weird imagination and brain telling me what to write. I hope you liked it :)
> 
> It’s still just a story, like all of my other stores. It doesn’t have a deeper spiritual, moral or ethical meaning.
> 
> Thanks for reading :)  
> Every comment is welcome


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